


Consider the Cat

by genarti



Category: Les Misérables - All Media Types, Les Misérables - Victor Hugo
Genre: Cats, Fluff, Friendship, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-03-05
Updated: 2014-03-05
Packaged: 2018-01-14 14:31:12
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 612
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1269973
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/genarti/pseuds/genarti
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Enjolras, Courfeyrac, Combeferre, and an extremely dubious stray cat.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Consider the Cat

**Author's Note:**

> Originally posted [on tumblr](http://artificialities.tumblr.com/post/74587830092/so-the-brick-club-is-reading-chapters-of-pain-and), when the confluence of the barricade sections of Les Mis in the Brick!club readthrough and some lovely angsty fanart from hamstr was making people sob all over my dash. So, in a chatroom, I offered to write some kind of fluffy antidote if people wanted to prompt me.
> 
> The collective attempt at a prompt (after “PEOPLE BEING NOT DEAD ;_____;” was declared too broad) was something like, “Gardens! Kittens! GARDENS OF KITTENS. Post-injury fic? MAYBE ENJOLRAS MEETS COURFEYRAC’S SISTER(S). Knitting! ALL OF THE ABOVE SIMULTANEOUSLY.”
> 
> …Yeah.
> 
> This fic does not contain all those things. But it contains some of them! Also, at least one dirty pun in French.

"I am convinced he likes you."

Enjolras, who was seated on a bench in the Luxembourg Gardens, gave Courfeyrac an extremely doubtful look. The scrawny tabby hunkered beneath a luxuriant yew did likewise.

"I am!" Courfeyrac protested in a wounded undertone. "You doubt me? Wait and see; he will come out and nuzzle at your hand, he will curl up on your knee. You can see it in his eyes."

"You don’t even know if the creature’s a male," Combeferre pointed out, amused.

"Do you?"

"From here? No."

"Well then. You are quibbling, and I am ignoring it. My main point stands." Courfeyrac crouched near the bush, careful of the knees of his trousers, and held out a gloved hand towards the cat. It hissed.

"You have no evidence in support of your assertion," Enjolras pointed out.

Courfeyrac did not deign to respond, save to call the cat towards him with soft coaxing noises, which it ignored.

"We might continue," said Combeferre. "My knee is quite recovered, and I do not think the cat will emerge."

Combeferre had slipped in a heavy rainstorm and wrenched his knee badly some weeks ago. Time and careful bandaging and, at Joly’s insistence, the diligent application of magnets had improved it very much; still, he was not wholly healed. This lingering injury was the cause of their halt, and their slow pace down the path prior to that. Courfeyrac had only spotted the cat after the others had seated themselves.

Enjolras did not move. “No,” he said; “I agree with your assessment, but he will sulk if we don’t allow him to try.” (“I will,” Courfeyrac agreed, with great cheer.) “Courfeyrac, what do you imagine I will do with this cat, if he does as you say? I have no need for a pet. My building does not have mice.”

"You would not notice if it did. No, I would not inflict you as an owner on any cat, my dear fellow. You will give it to Joly. He has never met a cat he didn’t adore."

Combeferre raised his brows, but forbore to comment. Courfeyrac glanced back, and immediately sputtered with laughter. “A hit! You must never tell Bossuet I missed so obvious a pun, I beg. And never tell his Musichetta a thing about this conversation. Have mercy. I take it back; he’s quite discerning. A man of excellent taste. But I am as well; and so I may definitively state that this is a lovely green-eyed specimen. Here, puss--” But it was no use. At the startling sound of Courfeyrac’s laughter, the cat had skittered deeper into its hiding place.

"You have disproved your own prediction," said Combeferre, still amused, and rose with some care. Enjolras, who had been ignoring this last exchange somewhat pointedly, stood with alacrity to assist. "Whatever charm of Enjolras’s might draw the creature, it has not carried the day. Come. Let it be. I have not seen fully half the trees in the orangery yet, and if the Medici fountain is not too crowded I would like a look at it. I’ve been reading about its hydraulics."

"It’s not my fault you scared the poor thing." Courfeyrac was occupied in brushing any trace of grass or dirt from the tails of his coat. "What can you see of the hydraulics from the outside? Never mind, you can explain it to me when we’re there. Where did I put my walking stick?" Enjolras indicated it. "Ah yes. Thank you."

Arm in arm, they set out down the path. The cat slunk out from beneath its bush, and followed. The April sun cast its warmth over all four of them.


End file.
